Global Voices » Philippines

Southeast Asia: Climate Change and Smallholder Farmers

Mong Palatino — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:56:16 +0000

The World Agroforestry Centre has released a study on the climate change adaptation options for small farmers in Southeast Asia.

Philippines: Protest Against Removal of Trees by Shopping Mall

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:52:23 +0000

The plan of SM City Baguio shopping mall in north Philippines to remove more than 100 trees to make way for a new parking lot and entertainment site has been greeted by massive protests from concerned citizens and various cause-oriented groups. SM is owned by the Philippines' richest businessman.

Thousands marched through the streets of Baguio City last January 20, to defend the trees and call on the public to boycott SM City Baguio. The hashtag #ProtectBaguiotrees became the top Twitter trend in the country that day.

Take Me to the Riot makes the Joni Mitchel song refrain “They paved paradise to put up a parking lot” the starting point of her musings on the issue:

Funnily, it feels like the entire history of that mountain is all about uprooting and displacement. Tribes – like the Kankanaey, Igorots, and Ifugao - were uprooted from the heart of the city and were displaced to other places. Some had to move to other areas in Benguet.

These people, like those trees, have been around older than any SM Baguio, 7-11 or McDonald’s in Session rd. But commercialism, in this case parking lots, are always stronger–enough to uproot and displace those who have known the land longer and maybe even more intimately.

Protest in front of SM Baguio. Photo from @KrissyAngela

A Mommy Who Tries Living Life to the Fullest!, inspired by the pro-environment Wall-E 3D animation, points out the lack of significant difference between uprooting and transferring the trees and cutting them down.

These promises are good if you don't know what happened to the past trees that were being earth balled. Dr. Michael Bengwayan (executive director of Cordillera Ecological Center-PINE TREE) said that, for the 497 pine trees that were being earth-balled by Camp John Hay Development Corp. last 1994, only less than 20% survived and those not dead were showing signs of deteriorating. So, we should expect that out of the 187 Pine Trees that will be uprooted, more or less only 30 trees will survive.

Baguio City residents decry the lack of public consultations and are questioning the issuance of permit to the mall for the removal of the trees. Student writers hit the government's connivance with big business:

Worse, even the current administration sanctions this one-sided step and seems to refuse in protecting the interests of the larger population. President Aquino along with city officials themselves shows no disapproval of this plan and the DENR issued the permit for the implementation.

Stretching the Symbolic meanwhile concludes that the cause is ultimately against the “world capitalist system”:

This is not just a battle for the trees, or against SM corporations and their corporate greed; this is a battle for our people, of Baguio and the country, against the large system where tree-cutting projects like this are just one of the numerous evil manifestations. This is fight against a system where things are done for the benefit of a few and at the expense of the many.

Philippines: Blogger House Project

Mong Palatino — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:43:23 +0000

Baratillo Pamphlet writes about the Bloggers for Habitat YouthBuild Philippines project which aims to gather 2,000 youth that will help rebuild the lives of families whose homes were totally damaged by a typhoon.

Philippines: Historical Site Restoration

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:19:42 +0000

Mark Segador documents the efforts to restore the now decaying historical sites in Iloilo City, Philippines.

Philippines: Mass Movement and Pop Songs

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:18:42 +0000

Vencer Crisostomo looks at last year's mass movement high points in the Philippines through the lens of western pop songs.

Philippines: Revolutionary heritage

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:57:29 +0000

The Museo de Santisima Trinidad curator reviews Angela Stuart-Santiago’s Revolutionary Routes: Five Stories of Incarceration, Exile, Murder and Betrayal in Tayabas Province, 1891-1980. The book is a history of her family and the revolutionary struggles against the Spanish, American, and Japanese colonizers up to the early years of the Philippine republic. It is based on the memoir of her grandmother originally written in Spanish.

Philippines: Malong and Typhoon Sendong Evacuees

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:55:01 +0000

Journalist Keith Bacongco writes about how Typhoon Sendong evacuees in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao uses the malong, a traditional Muslim blanket, to cope with the disaster.

Philippines: Unvisited Corners

Paula Góes — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:33:10 +0000

Two weeks after coming back from a journey to her motherland Philippines after travelling thirty cities, nine countries, and three continents, Justine Abigail posts about her travel adventures in 2011: ”I don't think I've left any part of myself there, but rather I've found pieces of myself”.

Global Voices in French: Translators' Choice 2011

Marvin Vann — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:10:03 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage 2011 on Global Voices.

With now more than 500 volunteer authors and translators, Global Voices is a unique global media network that keeps track of current events via social media conversation. Global Voices in French [fr] is one of the 20-plus sites of the Lingua translation project, and one of the most read Global Voices Lingua websites.

Since early 2007, when the French site launched, nearly 200 volunteers [fr] have translated or continue to translate articles and posts from various languages into French, every day. Our “family” lives on every continent: Francophonia is truly worldwide!

Global Voices French logo

In 2011, French-speaking translators carried out the challenging task of covering the many historic revolutions and uprisings throughout the world for the Francophone world by translating hundreds of blogsposts (with our co-editor, our Suzanne Lehn, on the front line!).

But, like our friends the Spanish translators at Global Voices in Spanish [es], when we asked volunteers what translations struck them most in 2011, “The Arab Spring” was not their automatic response. (Global Voices has been following and translating bloggers from the Arab world since 2004.)

Our translators' picks for 2011 demonstrate how much they approve of the Global Voices philosophy: shining light on countries, places, people, ignored by traditional media (for now, at least).

From left to right, upper row: Samantha, Abdoulaye, Fabienne, Ange, Lou. Lower row: François-Xavier, Noële, Gaël, Thalia, Stéphanie. Greetings and thanks to everyone involved!

Abdoulaye Bah, a Guinean United Nations retiree living in Rome, naturally pays particular attention to Africa:

I really liked translating the post about the mayoral opposition win in Mozambique. That victory teaches how it's possible to win elections in an African country, without fraud by those in power and without spending large sums of money.

Noële Belluard-Blondel, a professional translator living in France, was the first to refuse to choose only one translation:

My last translation in 2011 made me daydream…. ‘USA: Has NASA Discovered a Life-Friendly Planet?‘ I love astronomy, and space travel fascinates me. These are today's exploratory expeditions, and we're only at the beginning. I find that fascinating, gripping! I must say two other subjects struck me: ‘Bangladesh: A Bold Protest Against Dowry.' The courage of some women makes you wonder. It made me wonder. And China: ‘Do You Have Memories From Before You Were Kidnapped?‘ In this case, I was moved by the life of these women. A disturbing topic, deeply moving.

Fabienne Der Hagopian, who lives in Normandy, makes it a principle to translate what she most likes to read:

There is a lively diversity in our tastes and interests, which means that almost all the posts published in Global Voices in English get translated into French. In 2011, the posts that most struck me were those concerning the women of Yemen and their courage, such as this one on revolutionary women. It's sad that the traditional media don't talk about this more. It reminds me of [French singer] Daniel Balavoine's song, ‘Revolucion.'

Teacher Ange Pambou's pick illustrates the diversity of topics covered by Global Voices:

For 2011, my favorites are: the blogpost about the “Bidun” in Koweit (I was unaware of both the term and the phenomenon), another on homosexuality in Ghana (which, in addition to demonstrating the difficulties of being homosexual in Africa, deconstructs rather methodically the arguments generally advanced against homosexuality), the letter by a young Chinese woman to the Norwegian killer after the massacres in Norway, the gripping testimony of a “nuclear gypsy” in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, a post about the prohibition of water fights in Tehran last summer, and finally, — without a doubt, my favorite among favorites — an astonishing post about the daily life of a blind person who happens also to be a film critic.

Stéphanie Camus, who runs an e-commerce site, takes the time to “listen to the world” by translating:

I think it was my translation of the anniversary of the Sabra and Chatila massacre that had the greatest impact on me. I had just watched the film, ‘Waltz with Bashir.' The full meaning of “We must never forget,” becomes clear when one observes such an event, I find. It's the account of a horrific episode in a long war that symbolises, in my view, the horror and absurdity of all armed conflicts, whatever form it takes…

Lou F., currently studying in the United Kingdom, is a fan of world languages and met interesting people while translating:

In 2011, I loved translating the profile of Julie Kertesz, because she is one of those people one would like to come across more often: passionate, active, and above all, very human. I also really liked the article on the Welsh-language blogosphere. Global Voices allows us to discover voices from throughout the world, and I think it's great that regional languages are now joining the international choir!

Samy Boutayeb, our specialist on net freedom and the free software culture, refuses to choose:

As far as I'm concerned, it's impossible to make a choice, because I loved not only reading but also translating *all* the posts I translated.

Tahlia Rahme, who works for the Global Road Safety Partnership with the International Federation of the Red Cross in Beirut, Lebanon, is addicted to our short “updates”:

Once I got started translating those, I found it difficult to stop. This year I tried to translate every update about the Middle East. I considered it my duty somehow to familiarize the rest of the world, especially the French-speaking world, with the Middle East and its news, and above all to help change its image and the prejudices attached to it.

François-Xavier Ada Afana is a young, enthusiastic translator from Cameroon who is studying in Cyprus:

The post I most enjoyed reading and translating, by far, was the one about Independence Day in Tanzania: A good overview of the situation in the country.

Gaël Brassac lives in South-East France but will soon move to Japan, and opted to go with a “Top 3″ format:

1. ‘Global: Bloggers Take Issue With Anti-Niqaab Punditry,' because this article is a model of sort to expose ethnocentric self-righteousness, feminist extremism, and religious intolerance. 2. ‘China: Reflecting on 100 Years Since the Xinhai Revolution,' because I love history and China, so putting the two together could only please me! 3. ‘Mozambique: Behind the Detention of MC Azagaia,' because this is the kind of articles that makes me love Global Voices, covering countries never talked about in the traditional media.

Samantha Deman began translating for Global Voices while she was living in Singapore and offers a nice panoramic view of her years with Global Voices.

I choose my very first translation, published in 2008: ‘Humanitarian Crisis in South Philippines,' simply because it represents the beginning of my adventure with Global Voices. I like the idea of being able to inform others about what's happening in the remotest, often forgotten locales, thus helping weave ties between people living in the four corners of the world.

This post is part of our special coverage 2011 on Global Voices.

Philippines: Filipina Amazons

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:18:57 +0000

Vina Lanzona's new history book, Amazons of the Huk Rebellion, tells the many stories of Filipina women involved in the Huk Rebellion from the 1940s up to the 1950s. This is reviewed online at The PCIJ Blog.

Philippines: Davao Tagalog

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:17:22 +0000

RM Bulesco blogs about what he calls “Davao Tagalog,” a mongrel language combing Cebuano, Tagalog, and other Filipino languages that is spoken in the southern Philippine city of Davao.

Philippines: Environment Disasters Linked to Mining, Logging Operations

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:06:33 +0000

While Typhoon Sendong (international name: Washi) flood victims were trying to cope with the massive scale of the death and destruction brought by the calamity, another series of flash floods and landslides ripped through the Philippines in the past three weeks.

Days after Sendong killed 1,257 people last December and left thousands missing and homeless, more floods hit many provinces including Cebu, Davao, Bukidnon, Maguindanao, Compostela Valley, Negros, Leyte and Aklan in the southern Philippines. A deadly landslide meanwhile hit the mining town of Pantukan in Mindanano island last week, leaving 31 dead and over a hundred missing.

As relief operations continue to pour in to flash flood and landslide victims, Filipino netizens also began to ask some questions. The country's tropical climate makes it no stranger to floods and landslides, but the extent of the recent devastation have left many pondering: What are the causes, especially with the increasing scale and frequency of such disasters? What can be done to prevent them or prepare for them in the future?

Antonio J. Ledesma, SJ, the Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro, said that logging and mining is one of the culprits behind the disaster:

Last January 2009, the city had already experienced severe flooding. Some old-time residents recalled that this phenomenon happens every forty years. But barely three years after that, Typhoon Sendong came with greater vengeance.

Illegal logging and irresponsible mining activities have contributed to the degradation of the environment and the siltation of the river bed. The erection of man-made structures may have also impeded the natural flow of the waters.

Cagayan De Oro City Flood Damage Map

Ateneo Physics Laboratories posts the flood damage map of Cagayan de Oro City.

Dugo at Panulat holds [fil] the Aquino government accountable for allowing big business to hold destructive logging and mining operations in the country:

Pinahihintulutan ng gobyerno ang pagmimina at pagtrotroso ng mga naghaharing korporasyon at ng kapatid nitong gahamang dayuhan. Pinahihintulutan ng gobyerno na gahasain ng magkapatid ang ating likas na yaman kapalit ng konting kita at pamumuhunan ng mga ito.

The government permits the mining and logging operations of the ruling corporations and their greedy foreign partners. The government permits the two to rape our natural resources in exchange for a little profit and investment.

Lisa Ito also points [fil] to the conversion of forests by transnational corporations into plantations for export crops:

Laganap din ang kumbersiyon ng kagubatan upang gawing plantasyon ng pinya, jatropha, saging, at iba pang export crops, ayon sa maka-kalikasang grupo na Panalipdan Mindanao. Ayon sa mga pag-aaral mula sa National Institute of Geological Sciences, ang CdO ay lalong nagiging bulnerable sa baha dahil sa kumbersyon ng 2,000 ektarya ng kagubatan sa Upper Pulangi Watershed upang gawing taniman ng pinya ng Del Monte Philippines—isa sa pinakamamaking exporter ng pinya sa buong mundo.

The conversion of forests into plantations for pineapples, jatropha (for biofuel), banana, and other export crops is also widespread, said the environmentalist group Panalipdan Mindanao. According to studies from the National Institute of Geological Sciences, Cagayan de Oro became more vulnerable to flooding because of the conversion of 2,000 hectares of forests in Upper Pulangi Watershed for the pineapple farms of Del Monte Philippines-one of the largest pineapple exporters in the whole world.

Environmentalists have pointed out that a geo-hazard analysis conducted by the University of the Philippines confirmed the role of state neglect in the Sendong tragedy. Youth activists have been very vocal about President Noynoy Aquino's veto of a P5 billion disaster preparedness allocation in the past year that could have helped lessened the impact of the floods:

We reiterate that it is the Aquino regime which is a man-made disaster, turning the unavoidable reality of heavy rains into a tragedy: First, because Noynoy himself removed the funding for disaster preparedness in the 2011 national budget. Not a single centavo in the P5 billion ‘Calamity Fund’ went to preparing Northern Mindanao, or any other part of the country for that matter, for natural disasters. Second, because he continues to allow massive, ‘legal’ logging by mining, agricultural, timber, and real estate corporations.

A MindaNews photo shows the logs brought down by the floods to Iligan City from logging sites.

Politika 2013 meanwhile exposes the efforts by big business publicists to confuse the issue and steer the discussion away from the linking of large-scale mining and logging to the calamities:

Aside from sweepingly labeling all critics as leftists, the pro-mining and logging publicity offensive likewise attempts to confuse and dishes out lies:

“The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has confirmed that there are no large-scale mining operations in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan…,” CMP President Philip Romualdez said in a statement.

Of course, the mining operations are located in the very wide watersheds beyond the boundaries of both Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

Meanwhile, Philippine Wood Producers Association (PWPA) deputy executive director Maila R. Vasquez denied the presence of commercial logging operations in northern Mindanao…

So where did the thousands of cut logs that destroyed houses and now littering the coastline and clogging the rivers come from?

Dr. Giovanni Tapang listed 7 ways to reduce disaster risks in the country, including adequate disaster preparations. One of his recommendations is the emulation of socialist Cuba's storm preparations.

Various groups called on the Aquino government to punish those accountable for the disaster. Photo Credits: Karlos Manlupig

Dean Tony La Viña suggests 10 things that should be done after Sendong. He counsels against distractions and blame games, but at the same time calls for holding those responsible accountable:

Although this is certainly not the time for blame games, accountability must be exacted. In other countries, notably in Japan, officials take themselves out of the equation by resigning and taking responsibility. Unfortunately, we do not have that tradition here. And so I welcome the task forces created by the President to investigate what happened, although I would have preferred an independent commission to do this job to have more objective findings. Nevertheless when they finish, I hope they will file the appropriate criminal, civil and administrative cases against accountable officials. I would especially want charged those officials who abetted the activities that exacerbated the disaster, or those which had the information and the power to prevent it (but negligently did not do so).

Global Voices Most Read Posts in 2011

Solana Larsen — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:46:50 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Global Voices in 2011.

Our top 20 list of most read posts on Global Voices for 2011 includes four from Japan, three from Egypt, and two from the Philippines. But only one story is about a giant crocodile!

It's been an incredible year for the reach and recognition of citizen media around the world, and that means Global Voices is no longer as lonely a media voice when it comes to reporting tweets and blog posts. Still, where mainstream media interest wanes, we're the ones who strive to continue documenting what local bloggers everywhere need the world to know.

Self Defence Forces arrive at the scene of the tsunami in Japan. Image by cosmobot, copyright Demotix (13/03/11).

Some of our proudest moments of 2011 will never be reflected on a top 20 list like the one below. This year we exceeded 500 active volunteer authors and translators of countless languages and countries, and we've published more than 2,600 long posts and 6,300 short ones in English alone.

Inevitably, many of the stories that don't get as wide a readership as they deserve are from countries that tend to be overlooked in international media. Unique coverage from across Africa, the Caucasus, Macedonia, the Russian language Internet, Latin America and indigenous rights are among some of the highlights. See the 2011 regional reviews by our editors and authors for a glance of what you may have missed.

Our Middle East and North Africa team deserves special mention this year. Throughout protests, blackouts, threats, they have managed to pull though and keep writing. The bloody images still proliferate, but our authors seek out constructive voices and angles for dialogue. So often, they've shared local humor and context that is difficult to appreciate from abroad without a guide.

Perhaps for the first time ever, China doesn't figure on our top 20 list of the year. These are particularly chilling times to blog about controversial subjects - something Global Voices authors in many other countries unfortunately also experience. This makes the stories that do come from anywhere free speech is frowned on even more precious.

Most read posts on Global Voices in 2011

Our most visited special coverage pages were:

In 2011 the world has learned more about the transformative power of online citizen media. We believe the best way to support these emerging voices on a global scale is to listen. Thanks for reading Global Voices! And please consider supporting our work with a donation.

This post is part of our special coverage Global Voices in 2011.

Philippines: Ailing Economy Welcomes 2012

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:23:04 +0000

Jose Carlos Maningat calls for a rethinking of the ailing Philippine economy come 2012: “For a change, can we also discuss social justice? Can we move forward to pressing concerns on food sovereignty, corporate land-grabbing and resource plunder?”

Philippines: Vacation at Camiguin

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:20:24 +0000

I Wander goes to vacation in the southern Philippine island of Camiguin, “also known as the “island of fire” due to the presence of not one, or two but seven volcanoes in just 230 square kilometers of land!”